I am slowly [and against my will] becoming domesticated. I don’t like it, but there it is. I grew up in a house where the housekeeping standards were, if we’re being charitable, decidedly lax. Mess and clutter were ever-present. That’s the danger of living in a creative family – there’s always something more interesting to do besides clean the house.

I had the good sense to marry a man who came from a Pottery-Barn-ad-house. Seriously, Pottery Barn ads look like packrat dwellings compared to how Freddie grew up. So throw my packratty goodness in with his borderline neat-freak self and you have some interesting times.

Over the years, we have figured out how to live in the middle. The house is reasonably clean, even if you can’t do surgery in my kitchen. The clutter is a little harder to keep at bay, but I do the best I can. Between books, baby gear, and triathlon gear, we have precious little room for anything else!

I make a lot of lists. I find this is the best tool to ensure that projects actually get started rather than talked about. We can sit around all day and talk about how we really ought to lint-brush the furniture, mop the floor, brush the cat, et cetera. Once it gets written down on a list, the urge is there to cross it off, so things actually get done!

Today’s list concerns the patio. I would like to get some things to pretty up the backyard, plus I’d like to maybe get some tomato plants or similar that I can grow in tubs. I fear my herb garden will just have to live in the house because the squirrels will eat it. But the patio needs some life and color, so that’s the goal for today.

The long-term goal is to keep these plants alive all summer. We were doing so well last year until Jillian came along. We spent four days in the hospital, and those four days happened to be the hottest days of the year. The plants didn’t get watered and they died. Oh well! We were busy!

The year before that we did pretty well, keeping the plants alive until well into October. That was when we should have brought them inside for the winter but by the time we got motivated to do that (didn’t get on the list, you see), the first frost had happened and the plants went bye-bye.

Can it be done? My thumbs are so not-green that I can kill FAKE PLANTS. I’ve done it, honest! My basil plant is still alive after over a month of my care, so I have high hopes for the rest of my plants this year. Wish me luck!